Hmm. I always heard that my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard and they're, like, it's better than yours...

Damn right!

Saw Juno the other night in my hotel room, which completes my Best Picture dance card for this year. I liked it more than I expected I would. Well observed, touching, etc. Of the five, I'd say it did its job best with no obvious clanks, confusing narratives, bad performances or scenes that just didn't work. My one complaint was being hit over the head with quirky songs in every single scene. It started to feel a little lazy.

Finally checked Netflix streaming video out. Connected the laptop to the TV. Gotta say I'm impressed. Watched Reefer Madness, and then a bit of Fifth Element to see what the picture would be like. Can't complain. No issues with the streaming, and the picture was definitely not as good as even our standard DVD, but it was pretty damned good. I'd watch movies like that.

I wonder how I can stream netflix video via the ps3

(edit: it isnt implemented yet.. there's only rumors out there)

I used Netflix streaming to watch several of the late released Oscar nominees and it is certainly good enough.

Especially when it occurred to me that the picture quality on my 21-inch widescreen LCD monitor was much superior to the VHS tapes I watched on my 19" TV back in college and had no problem with.

* * * *
I wish I'd remembered that my friend Janet did f/x work for the Oscar Winner The Golden Compass - I would have been much more excited when it won.

It's the third film she's worked on that won the f/x Oscar ... but this is the first time she's actually had a chance to hold the Oscar. :D

* * * *

The Other Boleyn Girl was just a little too soapopery for my tastes. I suppose the nature of the story is pretty bodice-ripper-ish, but I think I was hoping for something a little more intrigue and a little less high school.

Eric Bana's Henry the Eigth is a love-sick moron. Natalie Portman, usually good in most things, should simply never play a queen again ... since I think this goes down with Amidala as one of her meh performances.

Scarlett Johanson fairs better as the title character and one of the few sympathetic characters. Another, the Boleyn boy, their brother George, is played by the yummy Jim Sturgess - who was Jude in Across the Universe. Kirsten Scott Thomas is the real standout as the sharpwitted Boleyn mom who's the voice of sanity in this most dysfunctional and tragic of families.

It could be the defacto first film in a trilogy with Elizabeth and its sequel The Golden Age. Like that latter film, it presents a world where the rulers of England seem to ruled by their hormones and love lives. Perhaps that's the way it was. They were human like the rest of us. But it seems to triviliaze important events, and so it comes off a tad artificial to me and more than a little silly.

Otherwise, a handsome production in a period of movie history I've become interested in of late. And I thought the costumes were fine, Shorshah.


* * * * *


More than anything, it made me feel like watching Jim Sturgess in Across the Universe, the first time I've screened that movie since first seeing it in theaters. Better even than I remembered. Knowing going in how thin the 60's pastiche/standard love story arc the story takes, i was better able to appreciate the film as a non-stop musical spectacle of great Beatles covers and one fantastic number after another.

:cheers:

If you haven't seen Across the Universe, get it on DVD. If you're thinking of seeing The Other Boleyn Girl, it's ok to wait for the DVD.



.

I have Across the Universe in my Netflix cue, so thats good. And I was dying to see the Other Boylen Girl in the theatre.
I wonder if anyone who has read it has seen it.

Having not seen the movie my first response is, "well yeah, that book is pretty much a soap opera"

Dude, remember when I put the wrong gas in your car? Don't stream crappyvision onto the 1080p, 50 inch, high performance machine in our living room. I don't want it to start leaking oil on the rug.

I've actually watched 4 - yes 4 - movies in the past week.

Last night's feature was "The Lost Weekend" - a fantastic and scary film about an alcoholic writer on his "last" binge. 1 is too many and 100 not enough - so true.

The night before was "The Darjeling Limited" - Wes Anderson's fun and odd story of three brothers on a quest in India. I really liked it and, if your a Wes Anderson fan, rent it. Oh, and Adrian Brody is still yummy.


La Vie en Rose was another alcoholic romp with the talented and tragic Edith Piaf. I knew her music well, but really knew nothing about her life. It was interested from that perspective and I can see why the Best Actress Oscar was awarded to Marion Cottilard - she was spectacular.

No Country for Old Men was a previous night's viewing. Not my favorite Cohen Brothers films, but Javier Bardem was scarier than crap and it was beautifully filmed. It was odd seeing this film after a recent viewing of Perdita Durango (also starring Bardem). There were many, many similarities between the 2 films and I ended up combining all of the car crash scenes into one nightmarish crash.

I've got a pile of DVDs sitting on the coffee table and may have my own movie fest while I am single. (I've got some fantastic 60's and 70's British films at my fingertips.) It's either that or cleaning the house. ;)